On a Monday evening, Clifton Vial of Nome, AK was out exploring an unknown road when his truck ended up in a snow drift. Unfortunately, Vial didn’t have his usual cold weather supplies with him and he was only wearing jeans and a light jacket, so he couldn’t dig himself out.

“I felt really pissed at myself,” Vial said. “I shouldn’t have been out there by myself unprepared for what I knew was possible.”

All he could do was keep himself warm and hope his coworkers would send someone to look for him when he didn’t show up for work. He wrapped his feet in a towel, climbed into a fleece sleeping bag liner and searched for any kind of food in the truck. All he found were three frozen cans of Coors Light. Vial said he cut off the tops and ate the beer like beans out of a can.

On Thursday, rescuers finally found Vial. Tuesday and Wednesday evening temperatures had reached 12 and 17 below zero, but he survived. He was cold and had lost about 16 pounds, but he was alive, awake and had no signs of frostbite.

The lesson here seems like it should be “don’t drive in snowy Alaska alone without a survival kit,” but really is “keep beer in your car and don’t panic.” There may even be a new ad campaign in it for the cold filtered brew: “Beer … crack one open, wait patiently and hope you don’t die.”